A blog about brews, pubs and travel

Where no beers have gone before

The NY Bites newsletter from the Village Voice, which I never got around to stopping after my visit to NYC last year, reports that beer is turning up at the menus at the more upmarket restaurants.

Top chefs from Daniel Boulud to Thomas Keller are deigning to add beer to their menus as their customers look to spend a bit less. Boulud’s Daniel (60 East 65th Street) will host its first ever beer-tasting dinner in the coming weeks, while Keller recently added a custom-made Brooklyn Brewery brew to the menu at his restaurants. Aquavit (65 East 55th Street) and Hearth (403 East 12th Street) have also recently hosted their first-ever beer dinners. Le Bernardin (155 West 51st Street) however, is still holding out on the beer trend. Beverage director Aldo Sohm says “You would not expect to get a beer at Le Bernardin.”

I noticed this (the beer availability, not the snobbery of Mr. Sohm) when I was there. I did not go much for fine dining, but I was very pleased to find a hand picked list of craft beers available at Gordon Ramsey at the London, a place I can warmly recommend for the food, too. Go for lunch, it’s easier on the wallet.